Well when I think of B5 in terms of overdramatic I often find myself thinking of Sinclair
I mean, the man really was drawn out of a play - But that's what was so special about the show. Someone once said B5 is an opera in the stars. Everything is big and dramatic, and still very small and human.

Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) who was accused of being wooden, ....is overdramatic?

Hmm, perhaps he was clumsily overdramatic at times (when his temper got the better of him.), but that was the part of the character, and not a fault of the actor in the role, IMHO. It was due to Sinclair's frustration in not being able to act as he normally would as a soldier, and him being uncomfortable in the role of a diplomat. Perhaps that's why I never got that criticism of O'Hare, ...or was it really a criticism of Sinclair (the character) and O'Hare played that character very well?

I do get your linking "overdramatic" to "the man really was drawn out of a play." Peter Woodward is sometimes accused of that in Babylon 5 ("A Call to Arms" and Lost Tales) and "Crusade," but I think that's also part of the character (Galen) and Technomages in general, as they're larger than life, and are actually taught to have a commanding voice and an imposing presence. Frankly, I never had a problem (and I'm not suggesting that you did.) with Sinclair/O'Hare or Galen/Woodward.

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Originally Posted by Infested Londo

Look, S1 was produced under a lot of pressure (as all S1's are) and if you go through the lurker's guide you can see JMS has his own regrets about it. It is not perfect, and yes, sometimes it is ridiculously over dramatic.

Trying to come up with where B5 was "ridiculously overdramatic"..... I've got nothin'.

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Originally Posted by Infested Londo

But that was the way the show was back then, and hell, we're talking 17 years ago! Hell yeah some parts look a little weird today, but the story passed the test of time and that's what matters.

Maybe I'm too close to it, but nothing really stuck out as being false or out of character. Maybe I'm just accepting that that was how the characters really were. <shrug>

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Originally Posted by Infested Londo

@KoshN: By realistic approach I think he meant the "let's let the actors talk like regular people talk" approach you have today.

The trouble with "let's let the actors talk like regular people talk" is that it's relative to the time period in which the episodes were made, and when viewed long after that time, it can look silly or cringeworthy (e.g. Star Trek "The Way to Eden" ). I have that problem when I try to read books that were written an an obviously earlier period than the one in which I'm reading them, e.g. "The Demolished Man" and "Triplanetary." I prefer to think of people in the B5 universe talking like they did, as being the way they spoke circa 2257~2281, but have a harder time convincing myself of that w.r.t. "The Demolished Man" and "Triplanetary."

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Originally Posted by Infested Londo

The first very bad example that pops to my mind is Gilmore Girls (yeah yeah), in which those 2 girls keep talking and talking as if the text itself is meaningless and the only things that matters is what stands behind what they're saying.

That actually sounds clever, but requires someone to be familiar with the show and may not stand up to the test of time. FWIW, I've never watched even five minutes of "The Gilmore Girls." <shrug> The most I've seen of it is a few seconds in passing, while channel surfing.

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Originally Posted by Infested Londo

I don't like that approach to writing (nor do I find it to be ANYTHING like real life), and I definitely don't think it fits in quality TV such as B5.

It could be like real life, just not the one you've experienced.

__________________
Mac Breck (KoshN)
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"Crusade" (1999) - "War Zone"
Max Eilerson: "The story of my life. I finally find a city like this, intact, deserted for ten thousand years. Probably contains hundreds of patents that I could exploit and I'm going to die. I can appreciate dramatic irony as much as the next person, but this is pushing it a bit."